This time last year St Johnstone built some significant post-split momentum.
The problem was it was of the downward kind. Perth captain Dave Mackay is hoping that the reverse will be the case this time around, and they can get a top six upward surge going with a home win against Ross County.
Five defeats out of five didn’t stop Saints qualifying for Europe, but the same certainly wouldn’t be the case this season, with three fewer places up for grabs. For St Johnstone, it’s third or nothing.
Mackay said: “Last year it was all a bit vague. It wasn’t until after the Scottish Cup final that we knew we were in Europe.
“This year it’s set in stone. We need to finish third. In a way it’s a good thing that we know what we need to do.
“This match could really set things up nicely for us. If we’ve got any intention of catching Inverness we need to get off to a good start because we’ve got them here after that.
“Who knows, if we win those two we could go above Inverness into third. It’s a great incentive for us.”
“Last season we lost to Dundee United and then heavily at Motherwell and that set the tone for the rest of the fixtures. We never recovered,” added Mackay.
“We really didn’t do ourselves justice after making the top six. You can definitely build momentum after the split. We’ve done it before in the bottom six when we moved up places with a few good wins and you can do it in the top six.
“Sunday’s the biggest game of the season for us because we know we can look up if we win it.”
One man will be the centre of attention tomorrow Richie Brittain. He agreed a pre-contract with Saints in January, but has this week let it be known that he now wants it ripped up.
“It’s very strange timing to come out, with us playing at the weekend,” Mackay admitted. He’d maybe have been better advised to have done it earlier or waited until after the game. But it’s out now.
“I don’t know the ins and outs. If it’s purely for family reasons that’s different from wanting to sign for another club. It’s tricky because you don’t hear about situations like this too often.
“Hopefully it will get resolved soon. It’s a good group here and it wouldn’t be great to have someone here who doesn’t want to be both for the player and the rest of us.
“He possibly has put a bit of pressure on himself for the match on Sunday. I’m sure he’s big enough to handle it, but hopefully he has a nightmare and we get the win!”
One man who won’t be reneging on his new two-year deal is Mackay, and he hopes he will be the first of several current players who will be tied up in the near future.
The skipper commented: “I’ve very rarely run my contract out and I’m glad mine is sorted out.
“First and foremost we need to sort out the players here who have done well, are out of contract and want to stay here.
“Hopefully there will be some good news on that front in the next couple of weeks. You don’t want it to go into the summer when players will have other options. We’ve built and improved every year and we want to keep doing that.”
Liam Craig is suspended, while Callum Davidson is injured and Murray Davidson is a doubt.